Jim asked:

My understanding is that middle initials or names were unusual during
the colonial period. However one of my female ancestors did have a
middle initial in her name. Would this intitial be indicative of her
maiden name?
---

No. The practice of using a maiden name as a middle name is almost
unheard-of before the 19th century. I'd be interested in finding
documented cases, if they exist. Ladies lost their maiden names
entirely when they married (occasionally, they might be known in legal
documents as "Firstname Marriedname, alias Maidenname", but "alias"
was usually used for a previous married name).

Before about 1750, almost all English colonists used only one given
name, as was the practice in the mother country. A few families gave
the whole name of a relative to a child as given names--therefore the
middle initial is likely for the surname of an ancestor.

Examples: Winifred Traverse BEALE, named for a great-aunt, married
Robert Wormeley CARTER. She was referred to as Winifred T. Carter, not
Winifred B. Carter.

Alice Corbin GRIFFIN was named for her great-grandmother Alice
ELTONHEAD Corbin (notice that little Alice wasn't given her
great-grandmother's maiden name, but her married name). She used two
given names--after she married, she was Alice Corbin Colston--all her
life, as far as we can tell, but never a middle initial. She was
certainly not Alice G. Colston. Little Alice named her own daughter
Elizabeth Griffin COLSTON, for her mother Elizabeth LEE Griffin, and
she had a granddaughter named Alice Griffin COLSTON.

Kathleen Much

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